Star Trek, True Blood Stars Collaborate on Comic-Book Series

In a world parallel to our own, there exists a shady cadre of magicians controlled by the government and kept a secret from the rest of the universe. Agent Matthew Dee—one of these modern “Combat Mages”—can trace his personal history back to occultist John Dee; when the first issue of Lucid is released, Dee will face conspiracy and (of course) ancient evil.

The four-issue comic series was written by Michael McMillian, an actor who popped onto the radar in True Blood’s second season as eerily chipper crazed preacher Steve Newlin. He is working in concert with Star Trek and Heroes star Zachary Quinto to release the book under the auspices of Quinto’s Before The Door Pictures company. It will be published by Archaia Comics and illustrated by 19-year-old Anna Wieszczyk.

“I’ve always sort of been into counter culture – magic and the occult – not so much in practice but in reading about it,” McMillian explained in a conference call with CBR News. “I grew up loving shows like ‘The X-Files’ and digging conspiracy theories and that kind of stuff … it’s a rock ‘n’ roll book, and I think, for me, part of it is taking these elements of magic and this concept of fantasy, which I think a lot of times gets a bad rap.”

Quinto admitted he hadn’t been a big reader of comic books before his stint as brain-nomming villain Sylar on the NBC hit that was just recently dropped. “There’s a stylized aspect to comic book storytelling that translates in a very interesting way when you bring it to life,” he said.

The comic will combine traditional aspects of fantasy like magic with Arthurian legend and modern-day conspiracy theories. The first issue of Lucid hits stands in August.